Just a few days ago I checked out some book binding companies (Basically you send all ur page layout either using their own software or Adobe and they bind it bookstore quality)
Some of the samples I saw were super super beautiful and pro.
My question is, as an applicant for M.Arch I from non-arch background, is it advised that I use those services for my portfolio? Will this work against my application in the eyes of admission committee? Is it more appropriate that I simply spiral bind my portfolio at printing shops given that I'd spend great amount of time designing page layout either way ?
i've seen many admissions and scholarship committees explicitly advise students NOT to get fancy with their cover and bindings, and to spend that time focusing on the content of their portfolio.
whatever your choice of binding, it should compliment the content of your portfolio first. i don't think it will make or break your application.
kinko's works just fine. This is a application that will get piled in boxes along with hundreds of other ones. Save the fancy binder for your monograph ;-)
I'd advise against a "fancy" binding, i.e. an overly complicated, self-consciously architecty binding.
However, make sure that your binding is well-made and even elegant. Craft is very important to architecture, so if your binding is sloppy and/or run of the mill, it says something about your attitude toward design.
You can now get a fairly inexpensive PerfectBind at many printers. This binding type is clean and doesn't call attention to itself.
By the way, Kinko's has ruined more of my jobs than they've gotten right. They've twice mangled an entire portfolio that took hours to print double-sided on my Epson (once when they cut it half an inch too short, and once when they bound the wrong edge.) Be very, very careful when using Kinko's for all but the most rudimentary jobs.
I've found that smaller, local printers tend to devote more care to their work.
dude - lulu.com will be just fine. you can get the 'hardback' cover if you have enough pages, but if not, you can do a perfect binding. a 100 page full color book will run around 15-20 bucks, not including shipping (which can vary wildly depending on how quickly you need the turnaround).
as a reviewer, i rarely cared what the cover looked like, but was much more seduced by the story inside. spend all your time there...
i was always under the impression that by complicated binding and covers, the admissions people meant ones that were made of steel, etc. the perfect binding offered by blurb and lulu actually looks simple and elegant. however, i believe those companies rasterize the pages you send them (even if you sent them vector files), and this can lower the quality and resolutions of things. another option is to print everything at high quality using your company or school's printers and take them to a bookbinder (use good paper though!). with a good one, little to no chance they'll eff it up.
make sure individual schools don't have specific requirements -- i think it was texas that wanted my portfolio bound in such a way that would still allow it to lay open flat - i.e. perfect binding not appropriate.
Jan 13, 09 7:43 pm ·
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SHall I use those professional book /portfolio binding services?
Just a few days ago I checked out some book binding companies (Basically you send all ur page layout either using their own software or Adobe and they bind it bookstore quality)
Some of the samples I saw were super super beautiful and pro.
My question is, as an applicant for M.Arch I from non-arch background, is it advised that I use those services for my portfolio? Will this work against my application in the eyes of admission committee? Is it more appropriate that I simply spiral bind my portfolio at printing shops given that I'd spend great amount of time designing page layout either way ?
i've seen many admissions and scholarship committees explicitly advise students NOT to get fancy with their cover and bindings, and to spend that time focusing on the content of their portfolio.
whatever your choice of binding, it should compliment the content of your portfolio first. i don't think it will make or break your application.
kinko's works just fine. This is a application that will get piled in boxes along with hundreds of other ones. Save the fancy binder for your monograph ;-)
I'd advise against a "fancy" binding, i.e. an overly complicated, self-consciously architecty binding.
However, make sure that your binding is well-made and even elegant. Craft is very important to architecture, so if your binding is sloppy and/or run of the mill, it says something about your attitude toward design.
You can now get a fairly inexpensive PerfectBind at many printers. This binding type is clean and doesn't call attention to itself.
By the way, Kinko's has ruined more of my jobs than they've gotten right. They've twice mangled an entire portfolio that took hours to print double-sided on my Epson (once when they cut it half an inch too short, and once when they bound the wrong edge.) Be very, very careful when using Kinko's for all but the most rudimentary jobs.
I've found that smaller, local printers tend to devote more care to their work.
Thanks for all the feedback.
I don't know if Blurb's binding is fancy or overdone. (They just look like regular book binding). Any opinions?
http://www.blurb.com/
dude - lulu.com will be just fine. you can get the 'hardback' cover if you have enough pages, but if not, you can do a perfect binding. a 100 page full color book will run around 15-20 bucks, not including shipping (which can vary wildly depending on how quickly you need the turnaround).
as a reviewer, i rarely cared what the cover looked like, but was much more seduced by the story inside. spend all your time there...
i was always under the impression that by complicated binding and covers, the admissions people meant ones that were made of steel, etc. the perfect binding offered by blurb and lulu actually looks simple and elegant. however, i believe those companies rasterize the pages you send them (even if you sent them vector files), and this can lower the quality and resolutions of things. another option is to print everything at high quality using your company or school's printers and take them to a bookbinder (use good paper though!). with a good one, little to no chance they'll eff it up.
make sure individual schools don't have specific requirements -- i think it was texas that wanted my portfolio bound in such a way that would still allow it to lay open flat - i.e. perfect binding not appropriate.
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